


Like a Drug

by readerdreamer5625



Series: Series Of ML Oneshots And Drabbles [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Can I really be blamed? :D, F/M, Hey I'm new to the fandom, Just dorks being dorks., Oneshot, Will be continued at some point.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 15:11:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6663703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readerdreamer5625/pseuds/readerdreamer5625
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alya was like a drug, Nino noted.</p>
<p>(In which, to start off a series of oneshots for this fandom, I dedicate my first fic on this website to the one and only @thelastpilot, the Turtle Mother and origin of Jade Turtle Nino!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Drug

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thelastpilot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thelastpilot/gifts).



> Oh my god, I'm seriously regretting this, really, I'm not the one to write romance. Oh god, these dorks.

Alya was like a drug, Nino noted to himself as he skated over the rooftops as Jade Turtle, heading for only one destination. A single taste, a single look, a single conversation, was all it took to ensnare him to the web that she weaved.

 

How he had never noticed it before, he didn’t know, but once Nino started talking to her, he just couldn’t _stop._

And by the Miraculous, Nino couldn’t honestly even say to himself that he didn’t _want_ to let it continue.

 

He knew it wasn’t wise. In fact, it was the farthest thing from wise as decisions could go – after all, who knew better than Nino about the dangers of involving civilians with heroes? Wasn’t he the one who got kidnapped merely a day after being sighted acting casually around Ladybug and Chat Noir by Hawkmoth?

 

Sure, unlike them, Hawkmoth didn’t particularly care for the Turtle Miraculous, but it was the principle of it that stood. Unless he wanted to put Alya in even more danger than she already was due to her very reckless actions as the owner of the Ladyblog, he had to pull himself away from her.

 

Jade Turtle was a hero. Alya Cesaire was just a civilian.

 

It was simply not meant to be.

 

Yet, it seemed that his heart had other things to say.

 

“Heya, Ms. Reporter. Isn’t tonight an evening too cold for beautiful girls like you to be sitting alone?”

* * *

They always returned to this place. The bench by the river, settled beneath a lonely little lamppost. They didn’t know how the pattern came to be, only that it kept on happening. Just a single green-clad hero, meeting the most wonderful girl he knew in the place that they had first met.

 

Some nights, all they did was chat. Sure, that sounded boring at times, but Alya was a reporter at heart. In respect to the privacy of their late-night encounters, she rarely publicized the first-hand information she received from Nino, but that didn’t stop her from exercising her burning curiosity.

 

And Nino, as shy as he was at times, couldn’t really deny her much. After all, he loved the flame that she had in her eyes whenever she asked what she wanted.

 

Other nights, they recovered. Those nights, Nino loved the most: as courageous as Alya was (and Nino, as he was often told but refused to believe), the dangers of fighting and following Akuma wasn’t lost on both of them.

 

During those nights, all was silent. Both of them would be sitting on the bench, quiet as a churchmouse as they clung to one another, with Alya sometimes even tending the wounds and bruises that sometimes remained even after the Miraculous Cure.

 

And then, there were those most magical nights. The evenings where Nino would sometimes play music through his shield-slash-weapon-slash-multitask tool, leading the both of them to dance with one another, just enjoying each other’s presence as they danced the night away.

 

And tonight, Nino had a surprise for her.

 

 

 

“Hey to you too, JT.” Alya gave him that fond smile of hers, causing his heart to skip a beat. “And what did I say about underestimating me?”

 

She scoffed playfully. “The cold could only _dream_ of preventing this reporter from getting her scoop!”

 

Jade Turtle couldn’t hold back his laugh. “Dude, I’ll have to warn you from saying that around Chat. The next thing you know, he would be making jokes about ice-cream and brain freeze!”

 

Alya thought about that for a second, before heaving a loud groan, “...Fair point. God knows how much I’ve had it with puns now that Adrien and Mari got together.”

 

She perked up a bit at that. “You know them, right? Adrien, you know, that Agreste kid who’s my classmate and my best friend Mari’s boyfriend? Because really, if you think Chat Noir is _bad_ , then you haven’t met Adrien. Sometimes, I even regret pushing the two of them together now that he’s like that...”

 

Nino snickered at the irony. “Is it really that bad?”

 

A look of affront put itself on Alya’s face. “You should _see_ them flirt. Seriously, they would give Chat Noir and Ladybug a run for their money.”

 

Not noticing the sheer amusement that made itself known in Nino’s face at that particular statement, Alya placed a hand on her throat as she gave out some pretty accurate imitations of the aforementioned couple’s voices. Starting with Adrien, she gave a very charming bow as a lower voice than usual left her lips.

 

“ _Ah, Princess! Pray tell me, are your parents bakers?_ ”

 

Nino remembered this. Oh, that _look_ on Chloe’s face once she heard her beloved ‘Adrikins’ flirt with Marinette... Alya, on the other hand, clasped her hands together over a shoulder as she turned away, as if blushing and embarrassed at something in front of her.

 

“ _Why, kitten, do you ask?_ ”

 

Oh, _that grin._ The image of Alya wearing Adrien’s – and therefore, Chat Noir’s – grin would be in his memories for years to come.

 

“ _Because they sure have made you into such a cutie pie!_ ”

 

Nino couldn’t hold himself back any longer. The deadpan look on Alya’s face as she said those last words was _priceless._ Devolving into wheezing laughter, Nino felt burning tears form beneath his goggles as pain started to grow in his chest.

 

“OH _GOD_ \- AHA- THAT LOOK- DUDE _HELP, I can’t_ \- haha- **_breathe_** _\- haha-!_ ”

 

Alya only smiled at him as he doubled over in laughter, chuckling a bit herself when the cheer started to get infectious.

 

After a few minutes, Nino started to calm down. However, considering the possibility that his brain was a _bit_ oxygen-deprived due to his previous difficulties in breathing, he didn’t realize what he was saying until it slipped out.

 

“Good thing we aren’t like that, right?”

 

Instant blush. Nino didn’t know whose face was redder, hers or his, only that he started to make wild gestures as he tried and _failed_ to say _something._

 

“I- I- I MEAN, if we **were a couple** , WHICH I’M NOT SAYING WE ARE, though I’m ALSO not **saying we’re not** , just that – _ARGH, **alright, I’m being stupid and running my mouth again, so I’ll just shut up. Now?** ”_

Nino slapped his hands over his mouth to stop it from incriminating himself any further.

 

Alya’s face was in a state of shock. Her eyes were wide, her face was red, and at some point her mouth fell open, but somehow Nino found her only more beautiful. And at that thought, Nino knew that he was in for it, **deep.**

 

_Oh gods and little kwamis, she must think I’m such a dork right now._

 

There was silence, awkward silence as the two of them just stared at each other like that, frozen.

 

And then, laughter.

 

It was clear and beautiful, like the sound of glass bells. And it was coming from the beautiful, courageous girl in front of him, the one who had unknowingly taken his heart and set it aflame.

 

Alya was a drug, Nino noted again for the last time as that small part of him that still denied the love that he had growing for her dwindled into nothingness, leaving him completely weak and dependent on her presence.

 

Was this what Adrien felt around Marinette? Because if it was, Nino could understand how his best bro acted around her.

 

“JT,” She snickered with a bright grin on her lips, pushing her face close to his, making their noses almost touch. “You’re such a dork, you know that?”

 

_Yes. I am a dork, but I’m_ your _dork._

 

By the surprised look that was on Alya’s face that moment, Nino realized that that previous thought might have not been limited to the chaotic mess that was his head.

 

And speaking of inside of his head, those golden eyes of hers was starting to fill them. How had he not noticed her and her beautiful eyes before? Those irises, that color that was the most precious thing in the world, how could he resist pulling his face closer-

 

**BEEP.**

 

At the sudden sound that came from Nino’s bracelet, both of them burst away from one another, blushes on their faces as they looked anywhere but each other’s eyes.

 

Alya spoke first, brushing a curl of her hair behind her ears. “S-So, that beep means your time is running out, right? I guess you should go.”

 

Nino’s heart fell at her words, only to go back up when she fully turned to face him, a bright look on her face as she tilted her head to grin at him.

 

“Let’s meet again sometime, JT!”

 

Whoosh. That was the sound of his heart soaring, reaching for the stars to gaze upon the beautiful face of the one he loved.

 

**BEEP.**

Wait, wasn’t he forgetting something?

 

“Ah!” Nino put his hands over his head, causing Alya to jump in front of him as he rushed to do something with his shield. “I can’t believe I almost forgot!”

 

“Forgot what?” Alya asked, curiosity just brimming beneath the surface.

 

Nino placed his shield on the ground in front of him. With a swipe of his arm over it, it burst into bright green lights as several colored orbs came out of the shield to coalesce in his hands.

 

Several seconds later, Nino had a box in his hands.

 

“Alya, here!” He pushed the box into Alya’s arms. “It’s a present! Like, yeah, friends give each other presents, right? And you’re a friend. So... here. I thought of you when I saw this, so I just had to buy it. I hope you like it!”

 

For the second time those few minutes, Alya gaped as Nino once _again_ let out a rush of words and stilted sentences that would make pre-reveal Marinette _proud._

**BEEP!**

 

“OH DAMN, I HAVE TO GO!” Immediately, Nino jumped on the shield that was already on the ground. Faithfully, the shield immediately lifted itself up, ready to transport the latest Jade Turtle in history. “HEYITWASNICETOMEETYOUMSREPORTERSOYEAHLETSMEETAGAINATSOMEPOINT, _BYE_!”

 

And just like that, Nino escaped with a bright blush and a wide grin on his face.

 

 

 

Left behind, Alya turned to the box that was given to her by the turtle-themed teenage superhero. Opening it, she couldn’t help the bright smile from forming on her face.

 

“Oh, JT, you didn’t have to...”

 

**[ “Thought that you could use some _real_ hardware come next Akuma attack! I hope this keeps you at least _slightly_ farther away from danger though!**

**\- JT** (followed by drawings of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) **]**

* * *

 

“Hey, Alya, what’s that on your shoulder?”

 

Alya grinned wildly as she took the aforementioned object off her shoulder to let Marinette have a closer look. It was a pretty small thing, shaped like a cylinder with an orb attached at one end and a suction cup on the other for grip, and Alya _loved_ it.

 

“Girl, you are looking at the thing that would make my Ladyblog big! It’s a state-of-the-art intelligent repositionable camera! Get this: it can record up to several _hours_ of footage in one go, automatically focus and re-orient itself on people, and it’s small and inconspicuous to boot! Girl, do you know what this means?”

 

From where she was holding it, Marinette shrugged as she studied the supposed camera. “I don’t know, what does it mean?”

 

Alya gave out a dramatic sigh. “Sister, that means I can now have _two_ perspectives for the Ladyblog! One for the close-range recording that I would personally do with my phone,” She took out the phone to make a point, “And the other using this _beautiful piece of technology_ to record it all from far away!”

 

**SLAM!**

 

Both girls jumped up a bit in surprise as a certain cap-wearing boy slammed his face over the table in front of them.

 

“Nino! What is it, man?”

 

Nino only waved a hand towards Adrien’s direction, not even lifting his face off the table as he said, “Don’t mind me, bro. I’m just having some problems here, don’t mind me, I can handle it...”

“What is his problem?” Alya couldn’t help but ask Marinette once Nino devolved into rambling that, for some reason, had ‘stupid’, ‘reckless’, ‘reporters’ as words that popped up every once in a while.

 

Marinette could only laugh awkwardly. “Haha... I don’t know?”

 

With that answer, Alya shrugged before taking back the camera that was in the other girl’s hands. “Now give me that. I was just given it recently, so I’m going to enjoy having it first before the next Akuma attack comes. Then, we’ll be testing this baby!”

 

“‘Just given it’? So, Alya, you’re not the one who bought this new camera?”

 

Alya laughed at the question. “Hell _no_ , girl. This kind of camera is really pricey, and I’ve lost way too many phones already for my parents to give me money for this. No, somebody gave it to me. As a gift, you know?”

 

For some reason, at that statement, Marinette eyed Nino, who suddenly stopped rambling. “ _Really_? Someone? Who is this ‘someone’, might I ask?”

 

“Oh, you know, just a dork of a turtle that is dear to my heart. No more details after that, no siree.”

 

When Nino burst out into a bright blush as if the challenge Marinette’s record for ‘The Deepest Red’, Alya didn’t get why both Adrien and Marinette started laughing, as if something very funny was confirmed for both of them.

 

God, they were all such dorks. Good thing she and JT weren’t like that, huh?

**Author's Note:**

> So, that's that. Expect another oneshot soon, this time focusing on a certain dad. Angst and drama on next oneshot, so you have been warned!


End file.
